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The World
Russia becomes China’s ‘junior partner’: The autocratic leaders of China and Russia seem to be withdrawing further into the same corner. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has made Russian President Vladimir Putin persona non grata throughout Europe and isolated the Kremlin from Western capitals, where governments have unfurled a series of sweeping anti-Russian sanctions. China under President Xi Jinping, meanwhile, is hardly a global pariah. But its escalation of military exercises around democratic Taiwan, its expanding naval footprint throughout the Pacific and its ruthless crackdowns in Hong Kong and Xinjiang are all pushing Beijing down a geopolitical collision course with the United States and its allies. (Washington Post)
Why has Zelensky insisted that victory must include the recapture of Crimea? Here are three possible answers. He believes it. He considers the retaking of Crimea both necessary and achievable. The arrival of US weapons and promises of more have persuaded him that Ukraine is about to deal Russia some heavy battlefield blows. Financial help from Europe bolsters his confidence that Ukraine can keep the lights on and finance its war effort. He’s just projecting confidence for Ukraine’s foreign backers. Zelensky knows that no one wants to spend precious resources on a lost cause. Future US and European military and financial support depend on confidence that Ukraine can survive. With a show of confidence that Ukraine is about to go on the offense, he hopes to bolster foreign faith in his country’s capabilities He’s just projecting confidence for exhausted and demoralized civilians and troops. Since Ukrainian forces scored early victories that repelled Russia’s early bid to seize Kyiv, Russia’s grinding advance in the country’s east has kept Ukraine on the defensive. Aware that Ukrainians don’t want to give Russia any territorial concessions, Zelensky wants to boost their confidence and persuade them he won’t trade land for peace. (GZERO Media)
Without providing any proof, the secretary-general of Kenya's governing party has said the country's elections were rigged, fueling public anxiety as media houses significantly slowed down their unofficial tallies of the presidential vote. Kenya, East Africa's richest and most stable nation, has a history of violent election disputes. (Reuters)
Sierra Leone declared a nationwide curfew and cut access to the internet by 95% amid deadly anti-government protests over inflation. Six cops and 21 civilians have been killed in the West African nation, where about half the population lives under the poverty line. Most Sierra Leonians are struggling to meet their basic needs due to high food and fuel prices, which have jumped 40% in recent months, mainly due to the effect of Russia’s war in Ukraine on global commodities. Such unrest is unusual in Sierra Leone, which has been relatively peaceful and politically stable since its civil war 20 years ago. More broadly, in recent weeks similar protests over the cost of living have also turned deadly across the continent in Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. So far the demonstrations have yet to topple an African government, many of which are mired in debt and simply don’t have the cash to offer relief to their citizens. But if food and fuel prices continue to climb, so will levels of civilian desperation. (GZERO Media)
Global Population Is About to Hit 8 Billion—and Some Argue It Is Near Its Peak. (Wall Street Journal)
The House is poised to pass major components of President Biden’s domestic agenda, capping Democrats’ effort to push into law a climate, tax and health care package that appeared dead just weeks ago. Lawmakers are set to return from their scheduled summer recess for one day to vote on the legislation, which faces unanimous Republican opposition. Mr. Biden is expected to sign the measure soon after. The Senate approved it on Sunday. The legislation would pour more than $370 billion into climate and energy programs aimed at helping the United States cut greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 40 percent below 2005 levels by the end of the decade. It would also extend for three years expanded subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, as well as fulfill a long-held Democratic goal to lower the cost of prescription drugs by allowing Medicare to directly negotiate prices and capping the annual out-of-pocket cost for recipients at $2,000. (New York Times)
New methane fee, drilling limits likely first steps of implementing Biden’s climate bill. (Washington Post)
Striking decreases in the stress hormone cortisol were the strongest predictor for who develops long Covid in new research that identified several potential drivers of the lingering symptoms afflicting millions of survivors. Levels of cortisol in the blood of those with the so-called post Covid-19 condition were roughly half those found in healthy, uninfected people or individuals who fully recovered from the pandemic disease, researchers at Yale School of Medicine found. (Bloomberg)
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will no longer recommend quarantines or test-to-stay programs at schools or daycare centers for people exposed to COVID, the agency said in updated guidelines. The agency also said it was no longer recommending unvaccinated people quarantine after exposure as around 95% of the U.S. population has either been vaccinated, had COVID already, or both. (Reuters)
Extreme drought is gripping Europe, intensifying heat and fueling fires: Months of scant rainfall and above-average temperatures have entrenched the region in drought, becoming the worst on record in some countries. (Washington Post)
Economy
World stocks headed for a fourth straight week of gains as investors scaled back views on how far U.S. interest rates and inflation can climb, while oil recouped some of the previous week's losses. Some stock market bulls are watching a technical indicator for clues on whether the rebound in U.S. equities will roll on. (Reuters)
BofA Says Cash Racing to Stocks, Bonds as Inflation Fears Ease: Bank of America Corp. says investors are rushing back into stocks and bonds, with signs that inflation has peaked spurring bets the Federal Reserve will dial back its interest-rate hikes soon enough to keep the US economy out of a recession. (Bloomberg)
Americans get some reprieve at the pump: We’ve been talking about prices at the pump a lot in recent months, and for very good reason. But after months of eye-watering prices, the average cost of gasoline in the US has fallen below $4 a gallon for the first time since March, according to AAA, a roadside assistance motor club. This marks a 20% drop from mid-June when prices exceeded $5, suggesting that the US Fed’s efforts to curb inflation are having an impact. Oil prices in the US – and globally – have also dropped in recent weeks amid fears of a global recession as the war in Ukraine lingers. What’s more, 88% of Americans recently surveyed said they were driving less due to high gas prices, indicating that slumping demand is fueling lower prices. (GZERO Media)
Activist investor ValueAct Capital Management has built a new position in the New York Times Co., contending the iconic newspaper company could improve digital sales and margins through an aggressive rollout of its subscriber-only bundles. San Francisco-based ValueAct said in a letter to investors Thursday that it now owns a 7% stake in the Times. It said it believed the current valuation doesn’t reflect the company’s long-term growth prospects in almost any potential economic environment and that management has several opportunities to offset the macroeconomic headwinds. (Bloomberg)
The corporate minimum tax could hit these ultra-profitable companies. (Washington Post)
Technology
Twitter and Google are getting ready for the upcoming elections. Google is making changes to Gmail, and Twitter’s ready to fight election misinformation. Twitter said yesterday that it’s reviving tools to take down false and misleading election posts. It’s also applying its civic integrity policy, introduced in 2018 to stop users from posting misleading claims about elections, to the midterms. Google’s trying to make sure campaign emails stay out of your spam folder after it was criticized for marking too many Republican campaign emails as spam. Meta is mostly keeping quiet and hasn’t shared anything other than this one-page outline. (Protocol)
China’s top chipmaker says geopolitical tension adds to industry ‘panic’: SMIC chief warns high inflation and a cyclical downturn in chip demand are slowing growth. (Financial Times)
Huawei Technologies said its first-half net profit more than halved as difficult economic conditions curtailed demand from customers, compounding woes brought by U.S. technology restrictions. (Reuters)
The FTC announced yesterday that it’s taking steps toward cracking down on commercial surveillance and lax security. That includes exploring new rules around companies “collecting, analyzing, and profiting” from user data. FTC Chair Lina Khan said that the FTC is for now just asking whether it even should regulate in some specific areas. The effort will likely draw pushback from business and tech groups, Protocol Policy reporter Ben Brody told me. Companies could try to argue that consumers get utility from the data practices in place. (Source Code)
Smart Links
Miami becomes the new boom town for corporate lawyers. (Financial Times)
The Perfect Professional Headshot Is Worth $1,000, and Maybe Even a Job. (Wall Street Journal)
What the Great Mayonnaise Inflation Mystery Can Tell Us About Prices. (Bloomberg)
Cloud Management Firm Nutanix Lays Off 4% of Staff. (The Information)
As India marks its first 75 years, Gandhi is downplayed, even derided. (Washington Post)
Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong to win presidential pardon. (Financial Times)